I had a strange feeling of doom as I went to school today. I was not absolutely satisfied with my lessons – I’d been planning them the last couple of days, but for some reason I felt like I needed something extra, there was something missing, or that the whole thing was going to be a complete failure.
I’m happy to report that it was nothing of the sort.
My morning class with Matsubara sensei was good. The students responded well to the lesson despite looking tired and being really quiet. I’ve been doing this thing where I pick out somebody from the crowd that looks bored and keep eye contact with them as I teach for a few seconds. It tends to snap them out of whatever dreamworld they are in and gets them to pay attention (for a while). In this class I did a version of the game “password”, and it went pretty well. The students did better than I thought – it was a tough job to find words that were easy enough for everyone to know but tough to describe (without using Japanese).
Mr. Hayashi’s class was easy – just doing mock interviews with the students. They didn’t do very well, and I think Mr. Hayashi is having me do interviews at the 2nd grade level, but 95% of our students aren’t at that level. I’m not sure why he’s doing this, but I fear it might be a waste of their time. They tend to get frustrated with the process, and that won’t help build confidence for the future. After the class ended, Mr. Hayashi said that he had a judo tournament to attend the next day, so I’m going to have to teach two classes solo. It normally doesn’t bother me that much when this happens, but the lesson is designed for two teachers, and the first year students will need some explanations in Japanese. I hate to show them that I know Japanese – they will try to use it as a crutch the rest of the year. Anyway, the class should be fun.
I walked into the next class with Maeda sensei, and when the students saw me, they broke into what can only be described as thunderous applause. Some stood and cheered, others chanted my name, and it took almost five minutes to get them settled down and ready to learn. I’d like to say that it was because I’m such a great teacher, but it probably has more to do with the fact that Maeda sensei wasn’t going to be lecturing that class. I appreciate the popularity, but you can’t let it go to your head. I’ve got the reputation of having “fun” classes, which are perceived as “easy”. I’m hoping that the learning part is sneaking up on them from behind, but who knows?
My last class was with Oshita sensei, and about five or six students were falling asleep during our lesson. I don’t mind when that happens – it doesn’t usually happen to me because my classes are more active, but these guys were really tired. Later Oshita sensei showed me their schedule, and they have a long day on Wednesday. They come in an hour early, and they stay an hour later. They have P.E. in the morning, so by the time I get them they are worn out and ready for bed.
After school I came back on the train with Ibayashi sensei. He’s an interesting guy. He’s widely considered (at least, from what I hear) to be a rude teacher to older teachers at our school. He’s young and he doesn’t pay the proper respect. That’s a point for him in my book, but I guess it doesn’t help him with his co-workers. He slams the door, he smokes, he plays pachinko, and he does a lot of distasteful stuff that normally would make me stay away from him. He lives in my apartment complex with his family, and he saw Kuniko and I walking around together a long time ago, but he kept our secret to himself. He has always treated me with respect, and to the limits of my Japanese we have good conversations.
Today we rode the train back to Nishi Futami, and he was talking, talking, talking, and I did my best to understand exactly what was going on. I caught around 60% of what was said, which is pretty good for me. I was telling him how nice everyone at the apartment complex is to me, and he told me a funny story.
When I get home, there is usually a crowd of tenants from our apartment complex out front. It’s all the stay at home moms, probably 10-15 of them, letting the kids play and chatting. Apparently soon after I moved in way back in 2003, I had been talking to one of the mothers, exchanging hello’s, and then I said “See you later!” in English and left.
This caused a bit of a stir. I guess the woman wondered what that meant, so she looked it up word by word in a dictionary, and thought that it meant that I was planning on visiting her later that day. I’m not sure on the details, because I’m hearing this story second hand in another language, but her husband was wondering why I was planning to visit his wife, and they consulted Ibayashi sensei who at least worked with me and might possibly have some insight into this foreigner who was chasing around somebody’s wife.
They all looked through the dictionary, and apparently figured out that it was just a standard saying, and so there was much relief all around, and I probably narrowly avoided getting my ass kicked by some angry husband.
Of course I was totally oblivious to the whole thing and stories like this make you wonder what other misunderstandings are happening all around you day to day.
This evening is a quiet one listening to music and relaxing. Wednesday is my big day, so from now on it’s a slow mellow ride into the weekend. Looking forward to it!
